Repeat the Question*

What role did UB’s yearbook play in capturing your college experience?

Roberta Zelawski Muir, BA ’71

Tampa, FL

I bought only the yearbook from my graduation year. I knew very few students outside of Chi Omega, but I believed I’d be sorry later if I hadn’t purchased it. I should have used the money for something else. It still anchors one end of my bookcase. I should send it to my mother who still lives in Western New York, as she’d probably recognize more faces and names than I ever would.

Peter Adrian, BS ’78

Williamsville, NY

Upon reading your yearbook question this long after graduating from UB, I thought about the UB yearbook, I believe, for the first time ever. I don’t recall any mention of it before and probably assumed that colleges and universities didn’t have such things. Now, I’m wondering: Where would the university have gotten a photo of me if I never sat for one to be taken? How would the university get photos of all those students, even just the class of 1978? If I wanted to see the 1978 yearbook, which library would hold a copy? How could a yearbook be possible for such a large and poorly interconnected student body as I remember it to be? Is there really such a thing? Was your inquiry a trick question?

Editor’s Note: We did check the 1978 yearbook and unfortunately didn’t find the writer’s portrait included.

Sharon Jarvis, BS ’94

Ashland, MA

As a former editor-in-chief of the Buffalonian, the experience I had working on the yearbook was unparalleled for me. The lessons I learned while working there have helped me throughout my career. I understand why the yearbook no longer has a role in current college life, but I am still saddened to hear about the Buffalonian’s demise.

Mary Schmid, BA ’06

Buffalo, NY

To my knowledge, we didn’t even have a yearbook at UB when I graduated. If we did have one, I never even heard a whisper about it. I think Facebook is a fun tool to keep track of friends, old and new, but it doesn’t replace the feel of a real yearbook, in my mind.

Ron Fazar, BA ’92

Rochester, NY

I think I still have my yearbook somewhere, but honestly it’s an afterthought. Next to my high school yearbook, the college yearbook means virtually nothing. … I have ventured on to Facebook. My generation just missed the beginning of the Internet—it was a huge deal if you had both a phone and a TV in your room back in 1988–1992. I really wish we were online back then like students are today (not to mention the significant upgrade in student housing).

Michael Wolf, BA ’95 & BA ’95

Amherst, NY

I honestly didn’t consider purchasing a yearbook despite being involved in several groups. UB is so large and diversified—the yearbook could only devote a tiny fraction of space to anything that might interest a given individual. As an alternative, I would suggest something Webbased. Now that my UB friends are spread over the country, we created a blog, “Comstock,” to capture the old stories and pictures from our UB days when we housed offcampus on Comstock Avenue. I think it would be worthwhile to consider devoting a server’s worth of space to where students, alumni and student organizations could contribute to a “living” yearbook.

Anna-Lesa Calvert, BA ’06

Buffalo, NY

I worked on the yearbook throughout high school and when I got to UB, I had hoped there would be something similar that I could contribute to. Unfortunately, I never realized that the Buffalonian existed. I think yearbooks will be much more vital in the long term than Facebook. The plus side to Facebook is that it is an immediate way to keep in touch with people you otherwise wouldn’t be able to contact. However, it is constantly changing and thus doesn’t have the long-term ability to recall fond memories.

*Responses to a question posed “In My Opinion,” a feature of the monthly electronic newsletter @UB. To subscribe, go to the UB Link menu at www.alumni.buffalo.edu.